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Thought I would share this interesting news story. Quick summary is that eBay will soon be allowing a way to ship trading cards for $1 with tracking. Hopefully they expand this to include other categories most of us deal in, such as postcards.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Simple-Secure-Shipping-for-Trading-Cards/ba-p/31420436
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–Single, ungraded cards priced at $20 and under (and up to 3 oz.) can be shipped in the US in an –envelope – with tracking included – for less than $1
This is a saving of up to 70% vs. USPS First Class Package Service shipping costs, plus it includes shipping protection.The new service is exclusive on the eBay labels platform and will allow you to meet eBay’s Top Rated Plus requirements, which includes additional selling perks.
If you want to learn more about eBay standard envelope our own Nicole Colombo, GM of Trading Cards, recently spoke at the Virtual Holiday Sports Card Conference. The YouTube link to Nicole’s interview is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWBQul2uHXs&feature=youtu.be&t=924 -
I just watched the portion of the video with Nicole Columbo. At the end of her portion (around Minute 25 or so), she mentions that they are also planning to change the Return period for cards. Right now, for most categories, to be TRS, you need a 30 day return policy (although sports cards is one of the exceptions, at 14 days). But, if I understood her correctly, it sounds like some time in January they will be permitting card sellers to be TRS with even just a 3 day return policy. She also said, but provided no details, that she also wants to make changes to ebay’s Money Back Guarantee for cards…..
This is in line with what new management at ebay has been talking about for many months now…one size doesn’t always fit all, and they are looking at these issues on a category basis. And they do seem to be listening to sellers, because both the tracking issue for inexpensive cards and the 14 day return requirement have been pain points sports card sellers have been very vocal about for quite a while.
It does give me hope that ebay is going to be making some good changes going forward….
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This has become my main niche over the last few years, so I can share something of an insider’s perspective.
First, this is a change that trading card sellers have been clamoring about forever. For cards that sell less than $10, most sellers still ship PWE (plain white envelope) — put the card in a thin plastic case, wrap the case with the invoice, put a stamp on the envelope and send it on its way. But without a tracking number, unscrupulous buyers would often claim item not received. Not anymore.
Second, as far as the shortened return policy — the impetus behind it is that card values can fluctuate wildly. Let me give an example from the most recent baseball season. The Tampa Bay Rays went on a surprise run to the World Series, fueled by a rookie outfielder named Randy Arozarena who only made the team for the playoffs because other key players were injured late in the season. Much to everyone’s surprise, Arozarena set a record for most playoff home runs in baseball history and in fact he hit more home runs in the playoffs than he had in the regular season.
Before the playoffs, Arozarena’s autographed rookie cards were typically only selling for a few dollars, with some going for more depending on factors that collectors value (aesthetics, features of the card, rarity). But you could buy almost any of his autographs, even the most desirable ones, for $20 or less, which is typical of most unknown players who don’t have a strong collector base.
However, as Randy led the Rays to their World Series run, hitting key home runs in seemingly every game, his autograph prices rose dramatically. His “common” autographs (thinner card stock, no foil numbering or embellishments to the cards) rose from $5 to $20 to $50 or more by the time the World Series finished up. His rarer autographs were routinely selling in the hundreds and some even in the low thousands. They are down from that peak right now (since card prices always dip in a sport’s offseason), but they will perk up again when the next season starts and if Arozarena begins the season hitting home runs at the same historic rate — look out!
Often the opposite story happens in sports — a star player has a devastating injury being the most common example. Their card values won’t necessarily drop to zero the next day, because there are still a lot of true collectors in it for the completionist aspect or motivated to add to their PC (personal collections). Not everyone who buys and sells cards is chasing autographs, either — some prefer a player’s first year (rookie) cards, others like cards with a piece of jersey or other garment in them and others chase after insert cards, which are cards with a unique design or color finish inserted every x number of packs or boxes. For an example of how expensive the rarest inserts can get, look up sold listings for Panini Color Blast (ignore the keyword spammers) and prepare to have your mind blown.
Multiply all of these factors by the different leagues and sports and sets (everything from thick, shiny and $$$$ to thin, boring and still $$ since cards are pretty expensive) and you can start to see how 45 million cards have sold this year. eBay’s changes and proposed changes within the collectibles and cards categories have been very seller friendly since Jamie Iannone replaced Wenig as CEO, and most card sellers are not mega corporations but small fish in a massive pond like I am. So hopefully this a good sign for how eBay looks at us mom n pop sellers.
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“So hopefully this a good sign for how eBay looks at us mom n pop sellers.”
Yep, that’s my view exactly. ebay has been starting with some “top” categories, such as expensive watches, sneakers, sports cards, etc. But I think as time goes on, ebay’s goal is to really improve sales for all the little folks like us…AND to make it easier for us to sell on the platform.
While the state of the economy, COVID and the political shenanigans all concern me going into 2021, I’m actually fairly optimistic about ebay itself…I think we’re going to see some pretty good changes being rolled out in 2021. (Some of them things that should have been rolled out years ago, but it just wasn’t going to happen with Wenig at the top.) So, I’m optimistic…cautiously optimistic…
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